


the ineffable in-between of our here and now

by winterpolis



Category: Archie Comics
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-05
Updated: 2017-01-05
Packaged: 2018-09-15 01:24:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9213164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winterpolis/pseuds/winterpolis
Summary: It’s a universally acknowledged theorem that rarely do paths that have once crossed and yet diverged should ever have a chance to intersect again. But sometimes, life surprises us and they do; and in the space between the recrossing of our heres and now, it leaves us ineffably breathless.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little project I've been working on to get my writing mojo back. Also because there aren't enough Betty x Reggie fics in the world and I took it upon myself to give fellow shippers another one to read. Enjoy!

“And you better not show your face again until you’ve decided that _I_ ’m right and scrap that lame excuse of an ending, Cooper!”

The door slammed loudly behind her as she angrily strode away. She vaguely registered the loud stream of curses that followed in her wake, nor did she pay attention to the curious glances thrown her way by the secretaries and other busy-bodies she couldn’t give two craps about at the moment as she made her way towards the elevator. She knew that her dramatic walkout would no doubt be the topic of the office gossip grapevine in no time, but at the moment, she just couldn’t bring herself to care. She was too angry—no, _furious_ —to care about something as unimportant as being the center of the office gossip. At the thought of why she was so worked up in the first place, her strides became faster and her breaths came out heavier, anger fueling every step with resolve to get out of the office and farther away from the door she’d just slammed faster. 

The nerve of that Blossom! She’d worked her ass off the past two years to make this novel a reality; and just as she’s _this_ close to finally seeing it come to fruition, that damned Jason Blossom, her arrogant, no-good publisher _,_ just had to bring it all to a screeching halt after having read the conclusion to her draft. _It’s just too bland, Betty, like you’re not even trying._ Too bland her ass! It was a very good ending, thank you very much! She’d stayed up until 4 AM trying to find the right words to end her would-be novel, and when she finally did, she’d woken a very pregnant Veronica from her much needed (beauty) sleep to announce that this was _it_. She did not risk Veronica’s initial unhappy grumbling and snappy tone only to have her gamble be wasted on Jason’s poor taste in endings. 

And to think that she’d been so excited as she walked into the familiar halls of Blossom Publications this morning! She’d thought, even fantasized, then that he had requested to meet her to inform her that he’d given the publication of her novel the go signal; but instead, she’d been met with nothing short of degrading remarks on her ability to properly conclude her own story. She should have known that something was bound to go south. This wasn’t the movies where life fell perfectly into place, after all. In fact, she couldn’t even remember the last time something _did_ fall into place, perfectly according to her plans; but then again, that was life, wasn’t it? Always throwing a curveball when you least expected it. She supposed that life would be boring without the challenges; but for once in her life, she just wished that life let her have her way. She couldn’t possibly see any reason for her dreams to be placed on a further extended halt, really.

The elevator doors slid open in front of her and Betty hurriedly stepped onto the metal shaft. Thank heavens it was empty and she was alone. She didn’t think she could handle the idle, meaningless chitchat that was bound to take place had there been another occupant with her—she simply was not in the mood to talk. At least not yet. She could already see the events of the rest of her day unfold: as soon as she got home, she would ring up Veronica and together, they’d lament the postponement—yet again—of her dreams, bash on Jason Blossom until they’d run out of all the negative adjectives to call him, and finally turn to talk of the baby.

Betty sighed. _The baby_. She couldn’t believe, no matter how many times she tried to wrap her head around it, that _Veronica Lodge_ , of all people, was seven months pregnant and was about to have her own child— _Jughead_ ’s child. Chuckling to herself at the memory of when Veronica had first unknowingly revealed her feelings for a certain Forsythe Jones, Betty absentmindedly watched the bold, red numbers flash in reverse order as the elevator descended towards the basement.

 

* * *

 

Betty winced as the wheels of the grocery cart squealed against the polished tiles of the Riverdale supermarket. It was Friday afternoon and the seniors had been dismissed early, but instead of heading over to Pop’s for some double fudge ice cream sundae like she’d originally planned to, Betty found herself accompanying Veronica on an impromptu—not to mention the raven-haired girl’s first ever—grocery trip.

Veronica had immediately taken to the huge selection of goods before her— _This is amazing, Betty! It’s like one of those Parisian boutiques Mother takes me to, except it’s for_ food _!_ —and was currently taking her time examining the many selections of yoghurt available— _They actually make these? How can you be sure they’re still organic?_

Amused, Betty watched her best friend make her selection before looping their arms and directing the cart away before Veronica could change her mind and peruse the whole shelf again. “What are we really on this grocery trip for, Ronnie?”

“Can’t a girl just drop by the local grocery to shop for herself? Geez, Betty, how judgmental of you!” Veronica placed a hand on her chest, face upturned as if she’d just heard the most incredulous thing.

Betty raised an eyebrow before bursting into a fit of giggles. “Really, Ronnie? _You_ shop for yourself?”

Veronica scoffed. “I do it all the time, Betty dear. How do you think I get the latest fashion trends straight from the designer?”

The blonde rolled her eyes. “Those are for clothes, Ronnie. We all know how gaga about shopping for clothes and make up you are. But grocery shopping? Not so much.”

“Okay, okay, you got me,” Veronica raised her hands in mock surrender. “I just wanted to see what was so great about it, alright? Juggie’s done nothing but go on and on excitedly about his weekend grocery trips and I wanted to see what’s so great about it.”

Betty giggled again at her friend’s petulant expression. Lately, Veronica had begun to spend more time with Jughead after a particularly nasty science experiment had ended them both in detention. They’d had nothing to do the entire hour Mr. Weatherbee had kept them locked up in one of the classrooms on a Saturday morning and they’d decided to pass time by indulging themselves in a harmless game of Twenty Questions. Needless to say, by the time the hour was up, they’d thrown the other more than twenty questions and had developed some deeper appreciation for each other. “Ronnie, you do know that Jughead looks forward to those grocery trips of his because this is technically his idea of heaven right? There’s an endless selection of food and drink here; of course he’d look forward to _this_ kind of shopping.”

Veronica frowned. “Well, if you put it that way…” 

Betty looked at her expectantly. A moment passed before she slapped a hand on her forehead. “I totally just made a fool of myself, didn’t I?”

At Betty’s nod and laughter, Veronica groaned. “What a waste of time!”

Ever the optimist, Betty urged the cart forward and dropped a pack of pretzels into it. “Not exactly. We’re here anyway, you might as well enjoy your first ever grocery trip.”

Veronica sighed. “Alright, alright. But where can I get some of those frozen burger patties that Juggie loves so much? I’m having Smithers whip up some of his gourmet burgers to get Juggie’s undivided attention. I—”

The cart came to a screeching halt as Veronica’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped. “Oh my God.”

From where she stood beside the shocked girl, Betty giggled. Oh, she’d seen this coming. It hadn’t been the first time that Veronica had brought up Jughead in their conversations. In fact, she’d noticed that her best friend had been talking about Jughead a lot for quite some time now. In addition to that, Veronica seemed to light up every time they’d crossed paths with their friend. It didn’t take a genius to figure out why.

“Betty. Oh my God. _Oh my God!_ ”

Suffice to say, Betty had spent the rest of their trip listening to Veronica exclaim the same phrase over and over again in between bouts of denial.

 

* * *

 

The _ding_ of the elevator as it arrived at her destination pulled Betty out of her memories. Shaking her head and chuckling to herself as memories of the impromptu sleepover she’d been forced into after that grocery trip came to mind— _To talk all these…feelings…out, Betty!_ —she stepped out of the elevator and made her way to her car in a considerably lighter mood.

Deciding to push thoughts of Jason and the novel completely out of her mind for the moment, Betty pushed the key into the ignition and— _prrrt._ Her eyes widening, she tried again. _Prrrt_. “No no no, this can’t be happening!” _Prrrt_

Growling to herself about her rotten luck, she opened her door and made her way to the trunk where she kept her trusty toolbox for times like this. Scanning the nearly empty space for the familiar black box, her heart fell as she realized she’d left it in her apartment the day before when she’d been trying to fix her leaking sink. Groaning, she slammed the hood down and tried to assess the situation. There was no way she was spending money just to call a tow if she could easily fix her car on her own. If she could just get her hands on some tools… _The janitor! He’s bound to have some tools on him!_

Rushing back towards the elevator, Betty growled as the machine took its time to come down. Deciding that it wasn’t worth the wait, she made a dash for the stairs, taking two at a time until she burst through the doors and into the ground floor. She’d seen a small alcove earlier that had a small plaque hung on the wall beside it reading _Janitor_. She quickened her footsteps in that direction and composed herself before knocking on the door.

Without waiting for a response, she stepped in. “Hi. Excuse me, my car broke down and I was wondering if I could borrow a few to—”

She stopped short and gasped in shock when the only other occupant in the room, whom she quickly deduced to be the janitor, turned around and met her eyes.

“ _Reggie_?!”


End file.
